Dr. Karl Schmidt's Journal after TAKSLANG - not Boomslang - bite!

[Irene de Villiers]

Thank you for this interesting document.

I am really struggling to see the snake involved as a Boomslang, having seen so many of them, and not seeing it in the descrption they give.
I note the people involved were Americans, the snake does not occur in USA, and they were looking at a captive "African snake" specimen.

So we can reasonable assume it was an African snake.
We also know for sure it had back fangs.
(Booomslang has those but is not the only toxic snake with back fangs.)

The boomslang is a large snake and the one they describe is a small skinny snake, only the size of a little finger, and only 30 inches long.
To compare further:
Boomslang is born 8 inches long and grows to a usual adult length of 40 to 65 inches, and may get up to 72 inches.
Young boomslang are a little finger size when they are 18 inches long.
Thereafter they are significantly bigger around.

The Killer snake is described as 30 inches long and a little finger size, so cannot be a Boomslang by its length and diameter combination. They admit it was "uncommonly difficult to name".

They talk about "characteristic head shape" but fail to describe it, a pity.
What they omit is a description of the eyes. Nobody looking at a boomslang would fail to remark on the HUGE eyes they have. It is their MOST characteristic feature, and is used to differentiate them from other venonous snakes like the Black mamba for exampke. Picture of boomslang big eyes here (1st pic), also note the body gets really thick (2nd pic):



Black mamba (named for the black inner mouth, they are brown-grey) is much bigger than boomslang but a pic here shows the eyes are small for the head size compared to the boomslang and the snake is relatively slender for its very long length:
http://www.arkive.org/black-mamba/dendr ... 75245.html

Do you not agree that someone seeing a boomslang would feel compelled to mention the large eyes?

Next they talk about the bright color pattern.
Boomslang has no "bright color pattern".
It is quite a dull snake and blends into the background.

(Oblique and keeled dorsal scales are a subjective thing not helpful in identification as snakes can have scales that vary from one end to the other or at different ages.)

Then they say its behavior proved it was a Boomslang.
But that is not valid for identification. It behaves like any back fanged snake.

Then they say the back fang carrying the venom, was 3 mm long.
Boomslang fangs are 5 mm long.

So I think their identification was definitely incorrect.

BUT
There IS a snake which matches the descrption of 30 inches, back fangs, very toxic, bright color and only as big as a little finger in body shape.
It is the African Twig Snake, Thelotrnis capensis.....(Note spelling, it is r then n .....not an m in there)
It is related to the boomslang but not closely. Both are Colubridae examples.
They are both in the same family and are both very venomous memebrs of that family and are both back fang snakes who open wide to a straight line to sink in the back fangs.
The Twig snake is described as bright colored and as big as a littel finger, in its formal description.
It does not have the big eyes of a Boomslang. It is described as having venomn that will kill, witih no antivenom.
Twig snake is also known as Vine snake or Bird snake. They grow to 33 inches long, and as big around as a little finger.
Their colour is various shades of grey, mottled with pinkish and black flecks to resemble light bark. The top of the head is green, and may have black markings.
In South Africa it is called the "takslang" meaning "branch" snake,
as compared to "boomslang" which means "tree" snake..... differentiating by size.
http://africanxmag.com/twig_snake.htm
SO..I am convinced the proving and death was not from Boomslang but from African Twig Snake.
It should be noted at least that the description does NOT match Boomslang at all.
Someone familiar with African snakes would have known that immediately.

The African Twig snake is the only back fanged snake fitting the description and capable of lethal bites.
Also, the African Twig Snake venom is listed as somewhat LESS venomous than a Boomslang.

Maybe that explains the lack of significant symptoms for so many hours too (not what is said about Boomslang bites in South Africa).

It must be an African Twig Snake record; I am pretty sure a South African Herpetologist would agree:
Maybe there was doubt abiut that in USA but there was not in South Africa where these back fanged snakes are documented to have killed people for the entire time of European histry there starting 1652.

They are meantioend for exampe in a bok written in the 1800s that has been passed dwon from my however many greats frandfather, Alexander James Kidwell, part of the 1820 settlers there.
Nobody in SA is naiive about how dangerous boomslang and takslang snakes are with their back fangs.

Maybe in USA there are no fatal backfang snakes?
I know almost nothing about USA snakes. But in SA one "knows nothing" at one's peril. Snakes there are a real and present venomous danger, including in city areas.
A reduced fear of backfang snakes was certainly displayed by the victim of this Takslang. It would not be so where these snakes occur in the wild and are feared for good reason - from centuries before this 1957 case of a snake from another continent, which they did not understand, in USA.
Namaste,
Irene
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Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Lynn Cremona]

That is all very enlightening!

I have see photos of the Boomslang, and also thought it strange that there was no mention of the size of the eyes.
It would be interesting to submit your comments to a herpetologist and see it there this had ever been further discussed and resolved among themselves.

Thanks for your input

Best,
Lynn
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Imagine Peace
http://www.homeopathicsolutions.blogspot.com/
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